The real reason Americans are falling behind

Don’t blame trade.
That’s the view of former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, the Maine Democrat who thinks Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has fingered the wrong explanation for why many Americans are anxious and angry.
“The Industrial Revolution began 250 years ago,” he tells Yahoo Finance in the video above. “You had then the same fears, anxiety, upheaval and violence that may occur now because people feared that machines may replace men and there would be widespread unemployment.”
Trump, of course, blames free-trade deals for letting American companies ship jobs overseas, a message that clearly resonates with some voters. Trump’s traction on the issue has forced his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to harden her stance on trade, as well. Clinton used to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership, for example, but now says she opposes it.
Mitchell thinks free trade has nothing to do with the economic stress many working families face today. A much bigger factor: automation and digital technology, which have replaced some workers and left many others lacking the skills to operate modern machines or fit into the Internet economy. “Large numbers of Americans feel they are not beneficiaries of the technology revolution; they are victims,” Mitchell says. “It is they who are angry and upset.”
Robots already operate many assembly lines, and it’s not just blue-collar jobs that are vulnerable to automation. Consulting firm McKinsey estimates that 45% of all activities people perform in the workplace can already be done by software or machines. That doesn’t mean robots will replace everybody. But it does mean we’re in the midst of an economic transformation that could last for decades and rival past periods of epic disruption.
Trade gets the blame for many lost jobs because closed factories are a lot more tangible than the cheaper products, improved efficiency and other benefits of trade, which accrue to consumers and workers in incremental ways not always noticeable. Digital technology, meanwhile, has brought us smartphones, the Internet and streaming video—everyday examples of progress. It’s far from obvious that the same technology could be responsible for hollowing out the middle class.
The answer, of course, isn’t putting the genie back in the bottle. “We need to find ways to get the benefits of technology and mitigate the disadvantages,” Mitchell says. “We haven’t done a good job of that. You start with a president who looks forward, not backward.” Sounds like good advice for whoever wins in November.